The BASE
project is (off course) not the only research project currently operating in
the field of climate change adaptation. I recently came across several
other research activities in the field of governance for climate change
adaptation in Europe, most of them also from a comparative view.
For example, colleagues from the VU University Amsterdam
(Eric Massey and Dave Huitema), in cooperation with Wageningen University
(Robbert Biesbroek) and University of East Anglia (Andrew Jordan), have
recently analysed national adaptation strategies in 29 European countries (from
a perspective of policy innovation and dissemination).
The Dutch research programmes ‘Knowledge for Climate’ and ‘Climate
changes Spatial Planning’ have recently resulted into a special
issue in the journal Regional Environmental Change on climate change adaptation,
titled 'From climate research to climate compatible development: experiences
and progress in the Netherlands' (http://www.kennisvoorklimaat.nl/publicaties/specialissueKvKKvR).
In their editorial of this special issue, Veraart et al. (2014) observe that: “…
a trend can be
observed in which a ‘top-down’ climate impact assessment approach is
increasingly combined with a ‘bottom-up’ approach”. And they observe: “Climate adaptation research finds itself in between global
systems knowledge on the one hand and practical needs and experiences at the
local, regional and national level on the other. This demands the utmost from
all actors involved to enable an efficient and constructive flow and use of
knowledge and expertise.”.
Elsewhere in the Netherlands, comparative research of adaption
to impacts of climate change is also interest. In Groningen they recently advertised
a PhD position (at the
department of Spatial Planning and Environment, under supervision of Johan
Woltjer) on capacities to manage
resilience to river floods and based on “…
a comparative, qualitative case-study between the NL and the UK to investigate
governance capacities to address these risks. The study would also point to
opportunities for policy innovation and institutional design” (http://www.rug.nl/about-us/work-with-us/job-opportunities/overview?details=00347-0000005579).
Researchers in Austria (including Christoph Clar, at the Institute of
Forest, Environmental, and Natural Resource Policy of the University of Natural
Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna) are currently also working on a research
project on climate change adaptation strategies. On behalf of the German
Federal Environment Agency, they compare climate change
adaptation strategies in 6 countries, 6 metropolitan regions, and 2 transnational regions. They indicate that they are particularly interested in factors that determine
the success of adaptation strategies, to what extent and how these factors can
be 'managed', and how/if the strategies are linked with adaptation strategies
at different levels of government.
And I am sure there are more research activities currently
undertaken to study adaptation policy and adaptation actions in and across
European countries.
Although studying dynamics between different 'bottom-up initiatives' and 'top-down policies' was an initial starting point of the BASE project, the
focus appears to shift towards studying participation, knowledge use, risk
assessments, cost benefit analysis, and impact assessment modelling. In my perspective,
the way for BASE to contribute to the various
other research activities currently undertaken in the field of governance for climate
change adaptation (and in line with the observation as mentioned above by Veraart et al. 2014), is by means of understanding the institutional dynamics
between policy initiatives at different levels. That is, understanding in which
way and why conflicts and synergies arise between the European adaptation
strategy, the national level adaptation strategies, and various local
initiatives. In which way do national adaptation policies help or hinder local
initiatives for adaptation? The BASE project does have a good potential in that
respect, as 8 national level adaptation strategies are researched, and about 25 empirical case studies in 9 countries (concerning coastal issues, ecosystem services, urban areas, health and agriculture); and all within the context of the EU.
